Because of the millions of people using public restrooms, it is important that simple, easy-to-use facilities be available. This has become increasingly more important in the United States, since the passage of the Disabled Persons Act. Many disabled people can not operate the knobs, plungers, etc. which are commonly used sink fixtures. It would be desirable to provide a sink control system that is easy for all people to use, disabled or not.
Currently, some restrooms utilize proximity sensors to turn on and off the sink water supply and thereby eliminate water control knobs. The proximity sensor turns on the water when an object is placed near the water outlet of the faucet. However, without knobs, the user cannot select the temperature of the water that is supplied by the proximity sensing faucets. In many instances, it would be desirable for the user to select from a variety of water temperatures for different types of applications. The inability to enable the selection of the desired water temperature is a major drawback to the widespread use of these proximity sensing faucets.
The restrooms provided on airplanes are extremely small. Consequently, it would be desirable to remove all unneeded knobs, buttons, plungers, etc., that are commonly used to operate a faucet, in order to make more counter space available for airline passengers. However, it would be desirable to provide the total functionality of a traditional faucet to faucet system for an airplane restroom while minimizing the amount of space it requires.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have sink water controls that are easy to operate and do not require bulky conventional components to provide water delivery at variable temperatures.